You were right Cragmyre about the Butcher Block quest - once I completed the final war quest in Timorous Deep I got sent to a NPC on the Gorowyn docks who requested I go to Faydwer. Another question oh sage Cragmyre I'm really interested in a Fury class, but want to play it with an evil race. Of all of the evil races, which is the best suited to a healer class like the Fury?

A heads up for anyone interested in resubbing to gold or enhancing a silver account with purchases. Tomorrow December 17th, and tomorrow only, all Station Cash purchases made from within the game will be tripled.

It just doesn't get any better; 1st I got silver for free without having really ever played the game, and now I'm going to get a new class and 3 race pack for a miniscule $5! Sony's certainly making it cheap and easy for me to enjoy this game.

Race doesn't matter as much as it used to. Some of the racial abilities are nice, like the ability to teleport to a group member in zone, or the ability to float from high places. As you level you will also be able to pick other racial abilities, but there are so many you can usually find something good. And with racial potions, though they cost SC, you can even start as a goody and just change into a baddy. There is also the ability to betray, but except for the neutral classes, you'd have to switch to the opposite class when the betrayal was done.

Also, you don't have to stick to the golden path. For example, they send you to Butcherblock, but there is still a lot of fun to be had in Thundering Steppes or Nek Forest ( well, that place isn't always fun )

Thanks for the replies Destructor and Cragmyre. I'm thinking of going Dark Elf for my Fury, if only because I have fond memories of once upon a time playing an all Drow party campaign in AD&D. I've been noticing the Shadow Knights, which look way too cool, and my understanding is that they're the evil opposite of a Paladin. So I'm wondering if like a Paly they get some heal ability too?

As an update on my SOE SC bought through my Steam Wallet - SOE corrected the problem this morning. They replied back the next day and fixed it the following. Considering it was a weekend that's not too bad.

Thanks for the replies Destructor and Cragmyre. I'm thinking of going Dark Elf for my Fury, if only because I have fond memories of once upon a time playing an all Drow party campaign in AD&D. I've been noticing the Shadow Knights, which look way too cool, and my understanding is that they're the evil opposite of a Paladin. So I'm wondering if like a Paly they get some heal ability too?

As an update on my SOE SC bought through my Steam Wallet - SOE corrected the problem this morning. They replied back the next day and fixed it the following. Considering it was a weekend that's not too bad.

I have a level 89 Shadow Knight, soon to reach cap, and he heals pretty well, especially with his AA's that has pretty much every damage spell he does heal as well. I do group with a Fury, and she barely has to heal me, but it is great in case of emergency. The trick to Shadow Knight is the more mobs the merrier

I have a level 89 Shadow Knight, soon to reach cap, and he heals pretty well, especially with his AA's that has pretty much every damage spell he does heal as well. I do group with a Fury, and she barely has to heal me, but it is great in case of emergency. The trick to Shadow Knight is the more mobs the merrier

Cool, that sounds good. I've got a fair amount of experience playing 2ndary heal toons, and usually have found it possible to keep myself and 1 or 2 others healthy in the absence of a true Doc. I'm definitely purchasing either a Fury or SK, but I'm going to ponder it over the next day or so as to which I go with. I'd be sold on the Fury if I could have it as the profession for an eveil Dwarf from the get to. Yeah, a puritanical dorf who's compromised his alignment due to unforgivable sins and heavy drinking is always a good toon for me.

I have a level 89 Shadow Knight, soon to reach cap, and he heals pretty well, especially with his AA's that has pretty much every damage spell he does heal as well. I do group with a Fury, and she barely has to heal me, but it is great in case of emergency. The trick to Shadow Knight is the more mobs the merrier

Cool, that sounds good. I've got a fair amount of experience playing 2ndary heal toons, and usually have found it possible to keep myself and 1 or 2 others healthy in the absence of a true Doc. I'm definitely purchasing either a Fury or SK, but I'm going to ponder it over the next day or so as to which I go with. I'd be sold on the Fury if I could have it as the profession for an eveil Dwarf from the get to. Yeah, a puritanical dorf who's compromised his alignment due to unforgivable sins and heavy drinking is always a good toon for me.

A Shadow Knight doesn't have any direct heals. All the heals are damage heals, my favorite being a damage shield that heals as well, hence why the more mobs the better.

Your evil Dwarf, though, would have to either betray, or you'd have to make something evil to begin with and then buy a race change potion.

A Shadow Knight doesn't have any direct heals. All the heals are damage heals, my favorite being a damage shield that heals as well, hence why the more mobs the better.

Ah, I think I follow you now; SK really can only heal themselves via a sort of life tap. I discovered this ZAM EQII website through a post in the Steam forums. While reading I found out that there's actually 2 attributes that each race naturally advances, making them a bit more suitable for certain classes. Apparently the current race-attribute favorings were only intro'd in general update 53 - supposedly sometime in 2010. I've already discovered what you've been hinting at though - that enchanted quest gear really diminshes the importance of those attributes. Still, it does explain why my Human Brigand now at level 21 has better Strength than I would have expected. Its seeming like I should really go with a Troll, Ogre or Sarnak for the best evil Fury - too bad I think all of those are damn ugly.

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Your evil Dwarf, though, would have to either betray, or you'd have to make something evil to begin with and then buy a race change potion.

Yup, at a cost of 2500 SC though I'd rather spend that on something else.

FYI - racial choice really is meaningless. Yes, you'll get (very, very) slightly better stats depending on race, and each one has different racial bonuses (like Iksar being able to breath underwater), but there's absolutely no reason to pick a race based on what class you want.

Every race can be every class (within Good/Evil picking anyhow, before betraying) for a reason in EQ2 - there's no disadvantage to picking a certain one.

Also, betraying was an annoyance back when I used to play. AFAIK, it's gotten MUCH easier. So don't worry about that too much in the end.

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Still, it does explain why my Human Brigand now at level 21 has better Strength than I would have expected. Its seeming like I should really go with a Troll, Ogre or Sarnak for the best evil Fury - too bad I think all of those are damn ugly.

Another change that Sony made to EQ2 is the only attributes that mean anything are the ones that apply to your base class. All of them take advantage of STAmina - but only Scouts use AGIlity, only Fighters use STRength, only Mages use INTelligence, and only Priests use WISdom

So your Brigand has no use for Strength, it doesn't help at all with damage, only Agility will help with damage on the Brigand.

I hear what you 2 are saying, this game is a bit of an adjustment for me. What I don't understand is why include a 6 attribute matrix for characters if in fact you're only going to bother with 1 or 2 of those for any given character? I can see that the use of skills advances them up to a level cap, but I don't understand what the underlying mechanic for their effectiveness is? I.e my Brigand is capped in both slashing and piercing, but was it Agility or Strength that was utilized while those skills were used and advanced? I have noted on the Advanced Training screen I can choose 2 personal traits to enhance 2 different base attributes, and I've been using the class and sublcass screens to increase my toons powers/special skills. But if I can enhance 2 distinct attributes then surely they come into play, hence some races should be better at a a class that utilizes those attributes?

I guess I'm just having a hard time wrapping my brain around the core mechanics of this game. With any RPG -skills based or attribute based- there's always fundamental base statistics that characters are built upon. I.e. in DDO (D&D) its a combo of attributes and skills with feats enhancing both, in Shin Megami Tensei online it's almost purely skills with a skill tree that unlocks more advanced skills chains, in DAoC it's a combo of skills and attributes with toons specializing in specific skill paths, Champions Online is a combo of both too. And of course all of those, and just about every RPG under the sun, allows you to enhance those with gear. So is EQ II really just skills based with the attributes being purely fluff?

I hear what you 2 are saying, this game is a bit of an adjustment for me. What I don't understand is why include a 6 attribute matrix for characters if in fact you're only going to bother with 1 or 2 of those for any given character? I can see that the use of skills advances them up to a level cap, but I don't understand what the underlying mechanic for their effectiveness is? I.e my Brigand is capped in both slashing and piercing, but was it Agility or Strength that was utilized while those skills were used and advanced? I have noted on the Advanced Training screen I can choose 2 personal traits to enhance 2 different base attributes, and I've been using the class and sublcass screens to increase my toons powers/special skills. But if I can enhance 2 distinct attributes then surely they come into play, hence some races should be better at a a class that utilizes those attributes?

I guess I'm just having a hard time wrapping my brain around the core mechanics of this game. With any RPG -skills based or attribute based- there's always fundamental base statistics that characters are built upon. I.e. in DDO (D&D) its a combo of attributes and skills with feats enhancing both, in Shin Megami Tensei online it's almost purely skills with a skill tree that unlocks more advanced skills chains, in DAoC it's a combo of skills and attributes with toons specializing in specific skill paths, Champions Online is a combo of both too. And of course all of those, and just about every RPG under the sun, allows you to enhance those with gear. So is EQ II really just skills based with the attributes being purely fluff?

In the past all the attributes mattered. Strength for damage, Agility for defense, Intelligence for magic, Wisdom for resistances. But the powers that be felt they were too complicated for the average player so they simplified it. Though they changed the way stats work on the different classes, not all items were changed, so sometimes you'll find a Brigand weapon that has STR on it, but that stat does nothing at all to help the Brigand. The race abilities don't necessarily apply to the class you chose, for example, had you made a human Mage, they wouldn't need STR nor AGI, but you could still choose those racial abilities. They give a lot of racials now, and you just have to pick and choose what works best for your class.

The race abilities don't necessarily apply to the class you chose, for example, had you made a human Mage, they wouldn't need STR nor AGI, but you could still choose those racial abilities

Are you sure about that? My Human Brigand only has the option to take Intelligent Designs (Intelligence ability increase) and Brute Force (Strength ability increase) despite him being a Brigand which favors Agility as the primary. Or maybe I missed something - where in the UI would I go to increase other abilities? From what I've read -well at least what's in the ZAM site's wiki- every race has only 2 abilities that can be increased. It doesn't seem to matter what class you take, you're stuck with those 2 abilities, useful or not. And since every class calls for good Stamina as the secondary favored attribute, races like Barbarian, Dwarves, Iskar, Ogres, Sarnaks and Trolls seem to be the primo ones. BTW I really wish the game dev's would have a left the ability matrix the way it initially was.

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They give a lot of racials now, and you just have to pick and choose what works best for your class

Which is concern of mine - that my Human Brigand might be nerfed a bit due to not having stellar Agility and wasted Strength. I had to get to 4 levels higher than the stated quest level to defeat the last boss and his 2 minions in Mok Rent, despite making sure I threw ever special power and trick in my arsenal at him. I realize it was probably a quest I was supposed to group for, but 4 levels is a heckuva lot higher! Or maybe I just suck.

The race abilities don't necessarily apply to the class you chose, for example, had you made a human Mage, they wouldn't need STR nor AGI, but you could still choose those racial abilities

Are you sure about that? My Human Brigand only has the option to take Intelligent Designs (Intelligence ability increase) and Brute Force (Strength ability increase) despite him being a Brigand which favors Agility as the primary. Or maybe I missed something - where in the UI would I go to increase other abilities? From what I've read -well at least what's in the ZAM site's wiki- every race has only 2 abilities that can be increased. It doesn't seem to matter what class you take, you're stuck with those 2 abilities, useful or not. And since every class calls for good Stamina as the secondary favored attribute, races like Barbarian, Dwarves, Iskar, Ogres, Sarnaks and Trolls seem to be the primo ones. BTW I really wish the game dev's would have a left the ability matrix the way it initially was.

Well, I didn't know which two were able to be boosted by humans, but those are racials, and they will always be available for any human to choose, not because you are a Brigand. As for your need for Agility - you can usually find armor and weapons with Agility. I pay to play, so I'm not sure what restrictions F2P'ers have to deal with, I know you can't upgrade your spells/combat arts all the way, but I'm pretty sure you can get Adepts for them, that would help with battles too.

Also, you'll start earning AAs from level 10, those can be put into your other trees to help you with abilities. The first tree ( the tab after Character Development ) will let you focus on scout abilities, and your Brigand tree will help you improve some of your specialized abilities. Unfortunately I don't have a Brigand, so can't help you much.

First off - yes, people might pick those racial classes for their Stamina bonus, but in the end (especially once you get better items as you level), it won't mean much. Yeah, you may have a few hundred more HP, but when you have a few thousand or so, it just doesn't matter.

Quote from: kronovan on December 21, 2011, 08:22:24 PM

Which is concern of mine - that my Human Brigand might be nerfed a bit due to not having stellar Agility and wasted Strength. I had to get to 4 levels higher than the stated quest level to defeat the last boss and his 2 minions in Mok Rent, despite making sure I threw ever special power and trick in my arsenal at him. I realize it was probably a quest I was supposed to group for, but 4 levels is a heckuva lot higher! Or maybe I just suck.

Are you doing your combination attack chains (you have a starter button that activates a wheel of sort of which you push other powers to match) at all? They help do a LOT more damage (as well as give you buffs and other things), and it makes a very large difference in combat when you're soloing. Some classes need them more than others to get along, but all will find it useful.

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Are you doing your combination attack chains (you have a starter button that activates a wheel of sort of which you push other powers to match) at all? They help do a LOT more damage (as well as give you buffs and other things), and it makes a very large difference in combat when you're soloing. Some classes need them more than others to get along, but all will find it useful.

True, the Heroic Opportunities help a lot against tougher mobs. They are started with the yellow icon, for a scout it will look like coins ( if I remember correctly ). You get the ability at level 5.

Well, I didn't know which two were able to be boosted by humans, but those are racials, and they will always be available for any human to choose, not because you are a Brigand.

OK cool - I'm following you now. I guess the question is how much impact do the class favored primary and secondary abilities have. Obviously, as in 99% of CRPG's and PnP's, the impact of ability bonuses will diminish as the toon levels up. If the underlying play mechanic is to use the primary whenever doing anything class specific, it could be quite a perk if you get a decent bonus when you increase a matching racial ability. On the other hand, if the system primarily uses the core skill levels like slash or pierce, and the primary ability bonus is only used when leveling those, then they would have far less impact.

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I pay to play, so I'm not sure what restrictions F2P'ers have to deal with, I know you can't upgrade your spells/combat arts all the way, but I'm pretty sure you can get Adepts for them, that would help with battles too.

I have a silver account, so I'm allowed Expert Spell tiers which I take to be the same as a Brigand's combat arts. So far at level 21, the only limitation I've experienced is the odd piece of 'fabled' gear - something else required fabled, but I can't recall what it was. So being silver-bound hasn't felt too limiting so far.

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Also, you'll start earning AAs from level 10, those can be put into your other trees to help you with abilities. The first tree ( the tab after Character Development ) will let you focus on scout abilities, and your Brigand tree will help you improve some of your specialized abilities. Unfortunately I don't have a Brigand, so can't help you much.

Yeah I've been increasing those. I've mostly been focusing on the Brigand abilities, because the Scout abilities seemed a bit cryptic. IIRC there's a reset though, so I'll probably be looking to do that once I get a better understanding and realize I've probably nerfed my toon by not taking the right primary ones. I've also found some tomes that have increased my subclass abilities.

BTW One of the reasons I ask too many questions and really want to get a handle on the system, is that I have the EQ PnP and I'm considering updating and converting it. The EQ PnP is a D&D 3.x variation and my 1st thought was to convert it to True20 which I feel is a similar but superior system. However, if abilites have been that much deempahsized in EQII, I might just consider converting it to a more skills based system like Savage Worlds. There's a number of players in my gaming groups that have played this game online, so there's lots of call for an EQ II update.

Are you doing your combination attack chains (you have a starter button that activates a wheel of sort of which you push other powers to match) at all? They help do a LOT more damage (as well as give you buffs and other things), and it makes a very large difference in combat when you're soloing. Some classes need them more than others to get along, but all will find it useful.

True, the Heroic Opportunities help a lot against tougher mobs. They are started with the yellow icon, for a scout it will look like coins ( if I remember correctly ). You get the ability at level 5

Argh, you guys posted before I finished my last one. Yup I'm aware of the Heroics - not that I often don't manage to fumble them.

BTW One of the reasons I ask too many questions and really want to get a handle on the system, is that I have the EQ PnP and I'm considering updating and converting it. The EQ PnP is a D&D 3.x variation and my 1st thought was to convert it to True20 which I feel is a similar but superior system. However, if abilites have been that much deempahsized in EQII, I might just consider converting it to a more skills based system like Savage Worlds. There's a number of players in my gaming groups that have played this game online, so there's lots of call for an EQ II update.

I thought the EQ2 PnP books were D20 based. Let's see... *wanders off and comes back* Apparently I own the EQ1 books like you do. Let me rephrase that then - I thought the EQ2 PnP books were very poorly received and are next to impossible to find.

*pokes at Amazon for a bit* Yup. I can't find them at all on Amazon, although I can find the EQ1 ones just fine.

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The EQ1 PnP never carried the D20 logo for 2 reasons, 1 it had a few core changes different from D20 Past/Fantasy (particluarly magic/powers) and it was more similar to D&D 3.x but for many reasons couldn't carry that logo.

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Let's see... *wanders off and comes back* Apparently I own the EQ1 books like you do. Let me rephrase that then - I thought the EQ2 PnP books were very poorly received and are next to impossible to find.

*pokes at Amazon for a bit* Yup. I can't find them at all on Amazon, although I can find the EQ1 ones just fine.

Lol, you'll look long and hard for the EQ2 book - as far as I know it never made print. IIRC the EQ Role-playing Game 2.0 book was actually just the 2nd edition of the EQ1 era book. I'm surprised the EQ1 book is still sold by Amazon since its long OOP. I think those there are probably for sale through a 2nd parties or preowned. 2 of the players in my DragonAGE group own the EQ1 hard covers and I'm lucky to have one of their sets. The absense of an EQ2 PnP is the reason why I'm looking to update it. I'm not much of a fan of D20 or D&D, so that's why I'm looking to convert to a different system. All of those above (EQ RP inlcuded) are really 3rd gen PnP's, and the trend with 4th gen (D&D excluded) is simple and elogant - i.e. you get the best features of the previous gen with half the play mechanics and fluff.

After getting the terrible news on last week, Carri found herself thinking about John and his island, his virtual oasis from the pain he has endured. Not sure what to expect, she posted a comment on an EverQuest 2 forum:

“This is a depressing post but I need some help. My 6 yr old son has cancer and was recently given 6-12 weeks to live. He has a frog that he likes to run around Tenebrous Tangle Island on; however, it is sparse and he has requested to add trees, fences, stairs, animals and all kinds of other items to make his island fun and exciting.

“Are there any decorators out there that would be willing to assist in adding these items (and any others their imagination poses) to help me make the island even more fun for him? I don’t know how much I’ll be able to accomplish on my own while still providing him quality time to enjoy it.”

Carri hit “post” and, soon after, her faith in humanity was reaffirmed. The EverQuest 2 community promised to transform John’s little island into a breathtaking blur of sights and activities to keep him occupied over the next few weeks.

A nice antidote to all the "So and so did some horrible thing, obviously because he/she plays too much Game X" news coverage out there. Woulda liked some screenshots though.

I've resumed playing this after about a 2 month pause. This time out I temporarily shelved my Human Brigand and finally started my Dark Elf Fury toon. I also started in Neriak this time and I'm enjoyng it more than Gorowyn; although both are better than 90% of the staring areas I've played in MMOs. For anyone still playing on the Antonia Bayle server, there's supposedly a big gathering (Faydwer Faire) this weekend in the city of Kelethin in Faydwer. IIRC its somewhere in area called the Old Oak lift - don't really know where that is, but I'm sure I'll find it.